In one example, a computer system comprises a circuit board, such as a motherboard. The circuit board has a fixed area for holding electrical components used for data storage and processing. The fixed area of the circuit board may be increased through attachment of one or more expansion boards. The one or more expansion boards couple to the circuit board and provide additional area for holding additional electrical components. The circuit board comprises one or more locations that receive and interface with the one or more expansion boards. The one or more expansion boards comprise circuit boards supporting various additional hardware and/or software. For example, the one or more expansion boards attached to the circuit board may add memory or interfacing hardware to the computer system. The one or more expansion boards couple with the circuit board through electrical connectors on the one or more expansion boards and the circuit board.
Third generation input/output (“3G I/O”) is an industry standard that defines the specifications of the one or more expansion boards and an interface between the one or more expansion boards and the circuit board. The third generation input/output industry standard comprises a replacement of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (“PCI”) industry standard for computer system input/output. The third generation input/output industry standard defines a revolutionary (“REVO”) expansion board format.
As one shortcoming, each of the one or more expansion boards are designed to be a same predetermined size. All of the electrical components of the one or more expansion boards are designed to fit within the same predetermined size of the one or more expansion boards. The circuit board is designed to accommodate the one or more expansion boards of the same predetermined size. A larger expansion board would provide a larger area for holding electrical components. However, the circuit board does not accommodate expansion boards designed to have a size different than the same predetermined size.